


A Prelude for Better Days

by VividOrchid



Category: Gangsta. (Manga)
Genre: Gen, Implied Relationships, M/M, pre-canon timeline
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 03:06:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5231519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VividOrchid/pseuds/VividOrchid
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Second Destroyers' attack on Ergastulum and Erica's kidnapping, Yang took Delico for a stroll in a city that couldn't forget.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Prelude for Better Days

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is written for Gangsta. Week's Day 3 Prompt, based on a mini-comic by MezDoang on Twitter.

Autumn was coming, but the air still gave away the slight mercy of summer heat. In his slightly oversized jacket, Delico felt a bit hot himself but he didn’t want to take it off. For some reason the weight of the fabric on his shoulders felt comforting, like a safety blanket that ward off ghouls and all things that went bump in the night. Around him, the market was lively as ever. Scents of ripe fruits mixed with fresh vegetables. Sellers announced their best-priced goods to passing customers. As if that event never happened in the first place.

Three months had passed since the full-scale attack by anti-Twilight faction and the Destroyers, and here they were going on and about their mundane life. But Delico felt it; whenever he walked pass a group of people, he could feel them staring behind his back. Their loud chatter replaced by a brief silence, then a hushed talk on how could the officers let a Twilight wandering in public places.

People hardly changed. If anything, the hate directed toward the Tagged was harsher, and Delico didn’t know how to feel any more. The new orphanage he was currently housed in with Yang didn’t seem to treat Tagged children kindly. Granted, the place itself was more like a temporary safehouse, erected hastily for the children who survived the attack. Once the orphanage on Third Street had been restored, Yang and Delico would return along with the others. Until then, they had to bear with the strict rules imposed on them, like having to live in separate bedrooms for Normals and Twilights respectively.

Suffice to say that one rule didn’t quite help Delico to cope with the aftermath of losing Erica. His nightmare – vivid images of his tiny feet on the platform, hand outstretched in vain only to watch his sister disappeared – came back every night to shake him off his slumber and made him muffled his scream with a pillow. Yang, probably having heard Delico’s predicament from the conversation between an annoyed caretaker with her friend, promptly ignored the separate-bedroom rules between Normals and Twilight and sneaked in his room to comfort him. The raven-haired boy, of course, also ignored Delico’s protest by sitting at the edge of his bed, lips forming a cheeky grin from his own accomplishment. The grey-haired boy felt a bit of anger at the denial but he couldn’t deny the comfort he got from Yang’s company, as it was the only thing that kept his memory of losing his sister from surfacing.

But that wasn’t all Yang did to make sure Delico was okay.

“Hey!”

Delico jerked his head up. His mismatched eyes soon met a pair of dark brown orbs of the familiar voice’s owner.

“You’re spacing out again” Yang huffed, placing one hand on his hip while the other held a brown bag full of vegetables and bread. “Geez, if you keep that up you won’t even noticed you’re being kidnapped”

Delico looked to the side, fingers playing with the edge of his jacket’s sleeve. “Sorry”, he muttered. “Where should we go again?”

“Let’s see”. The black-haired boy produced a paper sheet from his pocket. “Veggies, check. Bread, check.Milk? Dang, almost missed that one”. Slipping the paper back in, he made a movement with his head toward a convenient store close to them. “There’s only one place to go, then. Hurry, before everyone notice we’re not there”.

The two boys didn’t waste their time and headed quickly to the convenient store for a gallon of milk and two bottles of orange juice (Yang’s idea. There was enough left of the shopping budget). When they went out, the sun was almost on its peak. The group of people who were previously staring at Delico, however, hadn’t leave yet. It was then the young Twilight felt his sleeve was being tugged.

“This way”, Yang urged him, referring to a small but not particularly dingy alleyway. “We can reach the orphanage faster from here”. There was a slight concern in his tone, and it was then Delico noticed the other’ dark brown eyes occasionally shifted to watch over his back, to the group of concerned passerby behind them.

“I dunno” Delico said. “It’s kinda dangerous”

“All the more reason to come with me” The boy insisted, grinning from ear to ear. “I’m your trusted guide to the slimiest nooks in Ergastulum”

If only he could openly hit the other’s arm for blurting out that kind of confidence. Instead, Delico didn’t say anything, not even when Yang took his hand and led him into the alley. None of them speak as they went through, but Delico could feel Yang’s grip on his hand tightened a bit when they reached the deeper part of the town. Musty air, mixed with the sour smell of garbage, almost made him wanted to throw up. He swallowed. “Are we going the right way?”

The dank, eerie alleyway wasn’t the only one that made the young Twilight’s hair rose. He was certain he could hear the faint sound of footsteps coming their way, but he saw no one when he turned his head.

“’Course we are” Yang immediately answer. He didn’t turn his head to look at Delico, but the young Twilight did sense hesitation from him. They fell into silence again until they took a left when Yang suddenly stopped, making Delico bumped on his back from the sudden halt.

Two men – Normals. They didn’t have tags hanging from the neck – blocked the path they were about to go through. Delico stepped forward, ready to protect Yang. His body tensing from fear, but his instinct told him those men were up to no good judging by the sneer one of them gave. Yang, however, pushed him gently to his back again and stretched one arm to cover him. His face was tense with fear, too, but his determination was visible in the way he eyed the men.

“Hey, squirt” One of them, a tall middle-aged man with a diagonal scar grazing his face, moved forward to loom over them. “Don’t you think you’re way too young to have your own Twilight?”

Delico’s grip on Yang’s jacket sleeve tightened. He wanted to tell the other boy to ignore them and run. If Yang wanted a fight, and he was always up to fight someone who dare to hurt his close friend, he should have known that he was outnumbered.

“Say, why don’t you let good fellows like us take care of him?” The man nodded his head toward Delico.“Just tell your little Twilight friend there to come with us. He won’t even say no”

The words struck Delico’s ears like a knife. He hunched his shoulders and pressed his body closer to the black-haired boy. “Let’s just go. You can’t fight them all”

Again, Yang didn’t turn his head to face the mismatched-eye boy, standing on his ground like a wall. If anything did change, it was the glimmer of anger that grew bigger at the man’s words.

“Hey, shitface!” he shouted at him, catching Delico by surprise. “Delico is my friend! He doesn’t belong to anyone! Why don’t you go home and check yourself before you take something that’s not yours!?”

“Yang, no!”Delico gasped at the sudden spite thrown by his friend. Too late. The moment he looked up, the man’s company was closing on them, forcing him and Yang to take a few steps back.

The man’s face grew red. He growled “You little fucker!”

It was a split-second move, but Delico saw the man balled his fist to deliver a quick jab right on the side of Yang’s face. The black-haired boy didn’t have the chance to react. The hit landed directly on his face, causing him to fall unconscious on the damp pavement only to get a hard kick to his side. The horrible sight sent goosebumps down Delico’s nape. The voice inside his head screamed for him to help Yang, but his legs felt like they were nailed to the ground. He braced himself to scan anything he could use as a weapon. From the corner of his eye, he spotted gray rubbles from a torn-apart wall about the size of his hand. The stones might look puny, but if he could hurl them hard enough at the thugs he could probably buy some time to seek help.

As if a low-ranked Tagged like himself could win against two human adults, no matter how hard he wished for.

He turned on his heel as fast as he could, focusing his sight solely on the stones, only for the other man to grab both of his shoulders and dragged him back to the other man who was still standing close to Yang. Almost immediately, Delico felt his hope to fight back drained from his heart, leaving a somewhat empty space in his chest as the man held him tightly on his spot. He tried to struggle, exerting what was left of his willpower to make his arms flail, but it was useless. The force on his shoulders was too strong. He screamed. “Let go of me, Normal!”

“Now, now, don’t be such a brat” The man holding him grinned. “There ain’t no way we’re gonna hurt that pretty face of yours” He tilted Delico’s head to get a good look at him. “Say, are you a boy, or are you a girl? ‘Cuz I’ll be fucking disappointed if you’re actually packing down there”

“Cut that out. We need to get back, pronto” The other man said. “And don’t even think about touching him. Our clients will spend more dimes if he’s clean”

Delico didn’t understand the two men’s exchange, though there was a vague malice in the way the spoke about it. All he could think about, as the man holding him nudged him to walk, was the fear that came back to fill the empty space in his chest. His eyes caught the sight of Yang’s body and a crushing weight of disappointment, of failing to protect his friendand to even protect himself, assaulted him.

It was then the loud echo of a firearm going off rang in the air. Delico saw the man who held him stopped walking. His gesture suggested he was caught off-guard by the noise. Soon enough, Delico learned it was more than that when he looked up.  

A hole was formed between the thug’s eyes from which crimson liquid spurted out, flowing down the bridge of his nose.His face froze from shock as if he was denying that a bullet went through him. Delico, though, didn’t waste the chance to gawk at the horrific sight. He set himself free from the dead man’s grasp and pushed the body down before rushing to Yang’s side while the other man stood in confusion.

A familiar voice coming from the path Delico and Yang just walked by made the young Twilight turned his head. Dirty blonde hair decorated with tidbits of wild strands, an eye patch covering his left eye, and a cocky grin at the scene he just made. A gun was visible in his hand.

“Looks like I made it in time”

The young Twilight sighed with relief. “Big brother Worick!”

“Hello there, Delico”. Worick blew a kiss toward himand threw a side glance at the thugs. “I see you picked the wrong playmates there”. He cleared his throat. “Hey, buddy. I know you’re all tempted to pamper that sweetie over there, but have you considered asking yourself before crossing the line and take what belongs to the old man?”

The other thug’s face scrunched up in fury at the sight of his dead mate. He balled his fist and yelled at Worick. “Son of a bitch! C’mere so I can rip that stupid smug off your pretty face!”

The blonde’s sneer grew wide. “Ooh, scary. But you ain’t _sharp_ enough”

There was a faint chime, like a chain being swayed by the gentle wind. Delico didn’t even notice a figure materializing behind the other man until he saw a long, sharp metal of a katana swept the thug’s neck so fast the young Twilight could only catch a blurry glimpse of the blade. Just like his friend, the man’s face was permanently locked in a state of shock, mouth wide awake and slightly bulging eyes, and he remained so when his head slid down from his neck. His body followed after, slumping down to the ground like a ragdoll, letting Delico recognized the figure of a raven-haired man he already familiar with standing behind the dead body.

Worick clapped lightly, approaching them while Nicolas whipped his sword to clean the blood off his blade before sheathing it back. “Easily done, just like that”. He knelt in front of Delico and Yang, his blue eyes examining the grey-haired boy for a while before checking on Yang’s condition. He huffed. “Lemme guess. He jumped out to protect you again?”

“I tried to stop him” Delico replied, still looking at the visible bruises on the unconscious boy’s cheek. “But he didn’t listen”

“Heh, as if. Especially when you got involved in a mess like this” Worick slipped both his hands under Yang’s body to scoop him up. “Okay, let’s see if the clinic is still open. Nic, let’s get going. Oh, and don’t take those dough all for yourself, man”

[ **Congrats, this is our lucky day. They’re packing** ] Nic signed at him, stuffing the rest of the green papers in his jacket. [ **You okay?** ]

Delico nodded, quickly went back on his feet to follow the two men on their way to the clinic. He was silent most of the time, listening to Worick’s chattering about stopping by Granny Joel for a quick lunch. Something still didn’t quite add up, though. If they appeared just in time to save him and Yang, it meant they have been following them for a while. The young Twilight knew how close the two young men were to them; it almost felt like they were tied by blood. Even so, wouldn’t it be so much of a bother to watch over them all the time?

“Worick” Delico tugged on the blonde man’s jacket to get his attention. “Did you and Nicolas actually follow us all this time?”

Worick pulled up his face to make a comical offended expression. “Don’t say it like that. You made it sounds like we were stalking you or something”

_But you did kind of stalk us_ , Delico protested silently. “I thought you were going with Uncle Danny. I heard he went out to the outskirt today” He entwined his fingers behind his back. “Does that mean you intentionally leave the mission for our sake?” 

He heard Nicolas sniggered beside him.

Worick lifted his arms slightly to get better look on the stairs they were ascending on. “We were about to go with the old guy, but then he asked us to keep our eyes on two very gutsy brats who decided that sneaking out to a particularly dangerous part of the city was a brilliant idea”

Delico twiddled his fingers while trying so hard not to grimace at the apparently correct accusation.

[ **Your gestures this morning gave _all_ the signs** ] Nicolas added then pointed his thumb at Yang. [ **And he barely got his intention covered. He gotta be kidding if he could snoop under Danny’s radar that way** ]

“He even remarked how cute that was, though that was still very reckless of you. It may not seem like it, but ever since _that_ incident the old guy’s been constantly worrying about you two. That’s why he ordered us to follow you. You’re our today’s mission”

“Is that so?” Delico asked again. “We, no, I’m being a hassle for you two again, am I?”

“Don’t be stupid!”

Delico perked up and immediately looked at Worick. Yang shuffled a bit in the blonde man’s arms to turn his head toward the Twilight, giving Delico a sight of the even-visible bruise on his face that made the boy’s heart sank.

“Why hello there, tough guy. You finally woke up” Worick grinned at him.

“Because you two are being so noisy” Yang let out a disgruntled muttering. “Look, Uncle Danny asked them to just watch on us. Do you know what that means? He lets us learn to stand for our own. It wasn’t your fault I took the hit and they had to save us – well, maybe taking shortcuts isn’t _always_ the best option. If you really worry about being a hassle for everyone, you really should work your ass up to be stronger. Geez, you _really_ are helpless without me”

On a normal day, Delico would berate the other for bringing up that part of him that he hated the most. It was still something that bothered the Twilight now, being a burden to others when he should had had settled it down him but couldn’t.

Then again, when he thought about it, they could have ended in the worst situation if Worick and Nicolas didn’t turn up. He also felt something that was strangely uplifting - a pride probably - when he remembered how his own body reacted to retaliate against the thug; adrenaline coursed through his every nerves to move his limbs for the sake of protecting someone he truly cared.

He smiled at Yang, then at Worick and Nicolas. “Thank you. We’ll be careful next time”

Worick whistled. “Wow, what a great speech. I wish my hands were free now so I could clap, but now Little Prince must get his booboo patched and a good rest”

Now it was Delico’s turn to giggle at Yang’s unending irritation. “What do you mean ‘Little Prince’!?” The black-haired boy barked, to which Worick just raised his eyebrow and replied, “No? What about ‘Little Princess’?”

Delico giggled again, a little bit more visible this time. He realized the heaviness in his chest had long gone and replaced by a strange sense of relief. There was nothing to be worried about. He had Nicolas and Worick. He had Yang. He had Uncle Danny. He was safe. Both he and Yang were safe, and they had plenty of time to grow up and decide their future.

Until then, he counted on his surrogate big brothers for keeping them safe until that time came.


End file.
